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Not over, far from out

August 13, 2015

THE Wireless Institute of Australia performed a historic broadcast at the ANZAC cottage in Mt Hawthorn this week.

Using the special event callsign VK100ANZAC, operators contacted Europe to commemorate the 1915 August offensive.

“We managed to get a very good signal with an operator in Paris who spoke English,” says Onno Benchop, treasurer of WA Amateur Radio News.

“We explained to him the fascinating history of the cottage and about its important role for returning soldiers.

“Amateur radio enthusiasts in Europe are quite excited when they pick up a signal from Western Australia, because it is quite rare and difficult to do because of the distance. Benchop says that there are around 1400 amateur radio operators in WA and five clubs in the metropolitan area.

• Onno Benchop (VK6FLAB), Bob Bristow (VK6POP) and Andrew Smith (VK6AS) take wireless to new heights. Photo by Matthew Dwyer

Since 1931, Amateur Radio News has broadcasted a weekly news bulletin on various frequencies across the world.

“In the ‘80s, we used to get great quality of reception when doing a transmission,” Benchop says.

“Since then, several factors have affected the ionosphere—which the radio signals bounce off—and it has become harder.

“But over the years we have managed to contact the International Space Station with a handheld device and do some incredible stuff.”

“The clubs in WA are very popular: we have members as young as nine and some who been transmitting for 90-odd years.”

Benchop says more amateur radio sessions at the cottage are planned, in conjunction with Vietnam veterans who used radios in the jungle.

The cottage was handed to veterans in the early 1990s and, through voluntary work and fundraising, they have painstakingly restored it.

by STEPHEN POLLOCK
LETTERS 15.8.15

August 13, 2015

Binning hope
THE hundreds of employees with disabilities working for charity organisations will be distressed to hear of the removal of donation bins, which threatens the viability of their jobs.
In June, the City of Joondalup voted to remove 76 bins because of graffiti, theft and dumping of rubbish. Now the City of South Perth is also considering removal. This will not stop these rat bags from criminal activity elsewhere.
A greater effort by community, government, council rangers and police is needed to catch and prosecute these offenders. Removing the bins only punishes these wonderful organisations, where my disabled daughter is also employed.
William Booth
Queen St, Bentley

Tin ear
GREAT to read the article “Bull for Baysey” (Voice, August 8, 2015) and to hear that Dan Bull’s three articulated passions are: nature-based playgrounds; tree canopy and sustainability; and community consultation.These passions are consistent with the city’s motto “Garden City — Quality Lifestyle” and the objectives of the Bayswater Urban Tree Network. It is a pity Mayor Albert has a tin ear to these issues.
Greg Smith
Rose Ave, Bayswater

Ignore it
HOW pathetic that electronic media should be gorging on racial slurs. The stars of our sporting life should be big enough to put a stop to it themselves. They need to turn a deaf ear; and even feel sorry for the small and sad minority who give utterance to the slurs. TV and radio provide oxygen.
Bill Proude
First Ave, Mt Lawley
Flour power

August 13, 2015

YELLOW neon lights, cosy wooden walls, a two-storey dining area and an open cooking bar all under the same roof—the latter open for outdoor dining on weekends. The Flour Factory isn’t only a trendy, fancy-looking restaurant, but also the home of good, fine cooking.

Our waitress, Verity, welcomes us with a glass of homemade vermut, refreshing and light on a Wednesday night.

The venue is more bar-oriented, reserving only the side tables on the lower deck for dining. The menu is a few pages long but worth having a good read through. It is all based on shared portions for two and a wide range of imported and local beverages.

We order our first drinks: a glass of Esporao Pe Tinto, recently included again in the bodega, and an Alhambra 1925 beer that reminds me of home, Spain.

It takes us a fair bit of time to pick our entrée from the menu, and there are no regrets. On a homesickness attack I insist on jamon iberico de bellota puro ($26), accompanied by some steam-cooked vegies and recently baked, still warm bread. Sliced thin and with the right amount of fat to give it a soft taste it only lacks some spread tomato on the bread and a drizzle of olive oil to be like home. I can’t help an “Olé!” escaping my lips.

To follow our Mediterranean approach, we order some Perla Nera al Tartufo ($14), an Italian cheese sided with egg yolk and shallot and some crunchy thin crackers, that become my partner’s favourite item of our pick.

We order our next drinks with the main meal. I decide to try the house Tiki cocktail, made with Gin Xoriguer, typical from the Balearic Islands. I expect a tropical taste to the typical Mediterranean drink; besides the long wait it doesn’t let me down.

The mains are the strongest part of the menu. The crispy potatoes ($12) are simply delicious. Crunchy on the outside but soft on the inside, served in a clay plate. They go perfectly with the Venison Haumch meat ($32), that comes with a bitter chocolate jus and six different sauce dips, including chimichurri and beetroot. It’s perfectly cooked, pink inside, brown outside, not too chewy. Tender.

Full after our two entrées and mains we lean back to enjoy our drinks. The service is excellent for anyone who wants to feel spoilt for the night, checking constantly if your glass is full and if the meals are right. They know their menu well and are experienced in recommending items.

by MARTA PASCUAL JUANOLA

The Flour Factory
16 Queen Street, Perth
Monday-Friday 12pm-late,
Saturday 4pm-late
Covering our darkness

August 13, 2015

EDGY theatre is bread and butter for The Blue Room in Northbridge and All That Glitters tackles the issue of asylum seekers and detention centres.

“Our fellow humans, those we recognise as people — and those we don’t, live in continual fear and face the danger of violent death, and we are powerless to help them,” director and co-writer Gita Bezard says.

Glitter is a metaphor in the protest/pop-music extravaganza, that asks “is doing nothing really an option?”.

After all isn’t it easier to just put on your headphones and drown yourself in Taylor Swift and dance? the play asks.

“Making All That Glitters is about refusing to be silenced. Refusing to do nothing in the face of injustice,” Maylands local Bezard says.

• Photo supplied | Jamie Breen

The play was devised by The Last Great Hunt, a collective of seven young local artists joining forces to write, produce and act in plays under a single banner.

The play’s title is a misquote of Shakespeare’s “all that glisters”, a 17th century word for glitters, says co-writer Chris Isaacs.

“Our country might be shining and glittering, but there are problems with it … questionable things are being done in our name,” he says.
Australia’s treatment of refugees is an issue that will come back to bite us all in the bum down the track, the Maylands local predicts.

“[In] 50 years time a politician is going to apologise for this … in the same way of the stolen generation.”

All That Glitters puts a patina of fun on a dark issue in the hope of sparking change.

“[We] wanted people to leave thinking they could do something, a letter to a politician or signing a petition–or just calling someone out if they call refugees terrorists. We have to do it in little steps,” Isaacs says

Directed by Bezard, All That Glitters is performed by The Last Hunt collective of Adriane Daff, Jeffrey Jay Fowler, Arielle Gray and Isaacs. It kicks off season two at the Blue Room and is on until August 29. Tix $15 at blueroom.org.au

by JENNY D’ANGER
The Boy and the World

August 13, 2015

O Menino e O Mundo—The Boy and the World. The Latino film festival is in full swing and is holding a free night August 30 for you to dip your toe in with a free screening of the Venezuelan film Libertador. The festival’s also holding Perth’s first ever Latin short film competition which got more than 200 entries which screen on September 3, along with a Guatemalan night on August 16, a Bolivian night on the 23rd, and Brazil gets its showing with the kids movie The Boy and The World on August 30 (free for kids). Full program at http://www.cinevivo.com.au
Sunshine on Ruth

August 13, 2015

WA’S Sunshine League has all but disappeared from history, but in the early 1900s WA kids were donating their pocket money towards its push for a children’s hospital.

It took 12 years of public subscriptions, in some cases a penny at a time, including from Ruth Street 13-year-old, Viola Hodgkinson.

Like many youngsters writing to the Daily News’ children’s column’s “Uncle” Tom in 1908, she had a highly developed social sense.

“Dear Uncle Tom,” she writes. “I was very sorry that I could not go to the children’s orphanage…[but] we are going to visit the [aged care] homes more regularly.

“PS I am sending you nine penny stamps for the children’s hospital.”

Her Ruth Street home is as warm and fuzzy as young Viola, and a sense of peaceful tranquility shone down as I walked through the gate and up to the bright yellow door — even the miserable weather couldn’t dampen enthusiasm as I gazed at the timber deck from the sheltering bull-nosed verandah.

The vendor owns the quirky, uber-stylish, William Topp shop on William Street, and this two-bedroom delight looks like it stepped out of the pages of a home magazine, with its immaculate white walls and polished jarrah floors.

High ceilings and deep skirting, along with lovely ceiling roses and cute fireplaces keep the home’s heritage to the forefront — in a contemporary way that makes it perfect for DINKS, or a single professional seeking a cosy inner city nest — or a fantastically located first home.

The central lounge, with its open fire, is a sophisticated link to a rear extension, with a wall of glass and timber opening onto the kitchen/dining area, where terracotta replaces jarrah on the floor.

The aged timber of the kitchen cupboards have a trendy shabby-chic look, adding to the heritage charm of the space.

Invited mates around for a barbie? Throw open the french doors and let the party begin in the very private courtyard garden.

The Re Store is a couple of blocks away ensuring provisions for a great cook-up, but if cooking isn’t your thing there’s no shortage of eateries, and a pub, mere minutes away on foot.

by JENNY D’ANGER

57 Ruth Street, Perth
Auction Saturday Aug 29, 12.30pm
Natalie Hoye
0405 812 273
Acton Mt Lawley
9272 2488
home open Sat Aug 15 12–12.40pm
ACTON MOUNT LAWLEY

August 13, 2015

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Sponsor drought killing theatre

August 6, 2015

PERTH Theatre Company has cancelled the next two productions in its 2015 season and is “reviewing operations”.

On Wednesday morning customers trying to buy tickets to Of Mice and Men (starring Hollywood’s Jai Courtney) and yourseven were met with a dead link.

Shortly afterwards a press release was issued announcing “PTC has been reviewing operations in light of a significantly lower than expected corporate and sponsorship support, the latter perhaps being symptomatic of a slowing economy in WA.

“The company has concluded that without significant corporate support, the program is unable to be presented.”

“Unfortunately sales in 2015 have not grown as anticipated, and with corporate sponsorship well below set targets” the company can’t afford to put on the two shows, and ticket holders will be fully refunded. PTC chair Saliba Sassine says without major sponsors “the financial risk of proceeding far outweighed the potential benefits”.

“The board decided it was imperative not to risk the company which will continue to operate. The challenge now is to not lose the vibrancy and energy that has been generated and to review strategic operations to allow PTC to continue as a sustainable theatre company.”

Both productions were to be staged at the state theatre centre, known to local industry types as having high production costs for smaller operators. In 2011 local playwright John Aitken staged a season of The Enchanters there, but costs were so high that, despite solid ticket sales and good reviews, he ended up having to sell his unit. Actors organised a fundraiser to help him stay on his feet.

by DAVID BELL
Mayor admitted to hospital

August 6, 2015

BAYSWATER mayor Sylvan Albert was admitted to hospital this week after feeling unwell.

Deputy mayor Mike Sabatino says Cr Albert took ill last Saturday, cancelling an appearance at the Avon Descent the following day: “The doctors have told him to rest, but he will be back on council duty this Saturday,” says Cr Sabatino. “They are going to run some tests and try and get to the bottom of it.”

Cr Sabatino says Cr Albert did not suffer a heart attack, but refused to go into specifics.

The Voice contacted the council for official comment, but it didn’t get back to us.

Meanwhile, Cr Sabatino confirms he will re-contest central ward at the local government elections in October. “I was considering running in the north ward against Mike Anderton, because we had a disagreement,” he says. “But I’ve changed my mind.” He refused to shed further light on the “disagreement”.

by STEPHEN POLLOCK
#blankwallsrboring

August 6, 2015

POLITICS in wedding photos? Snaps from Perth councillor Reece Harley’s wedding to new wife Rebekah Major over the weekend included in them a subtle dig about a recent disagreement he’d had with lord mayor Lisa Scaffidi. At the last council meeting Ms Scaffidi voted not to spend $50,000 for a giant mural at 456 Hay Street, noting she had “a penchant for the occasional blank wall”: her casting vote killed the project. Cr Harley posed for his wedding pics in front of a mural on Wolf Lane. The hashtag? #blankwallsrboring

Photo supplied | Paris Hawken photography